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Basal forebrain moderates the magnitude of task-dependent amygdala functional connectivity.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Gorka, AX; Knodt, AR; Hariri, AR
Published in: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
April 2015

Animal studies reveal that the amygdala promotes attention and emotional memory, in part, by driving activity in downstream target regions including the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus. Prior work has demonstrated that the amygdala influences these regions directly through monosynaptic glutamatergic signaling, and indirectly by driving activity of the cholinergic basal forebrain and subsequent downstream acetylcholine release. Yet to date, no work has addressed the functional relevance of the cholinergic basal forebrain in facilitating signaling from the amygdala in humans. We set out to determine how blood oxygen level-dependent signal within the amygdala and cholinergic basal forebrain interact to predict neural responses within downstream targets. Here, we use functional connectivity analyses to demonstrate that the cholinergic basal forebrain moderates increased amygdala connectivity with both the PFC and the hippocampus during the processing of biologically salient stimuli in humans. We further demonstrate that functional variation within the choline transporter gene predicts the magnitude of this modulatory effect. Collectively, our results provide novel evidence for the importance of cholinergic signaling in modulating neural pathways supporting arousal, attention and memory in humans. Further, our results may shed light on prior association studies linking functional variation within the choline transporter gene and diagnoses of major depression and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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Published In

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1749-5024

ISSN

1749-5016

Publication Date

April 2015

Volume

10

Issue

4

Start / End Page

501 / 507

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Parasympathetic Nervous System
  • Oxygen
  • Neuroimaging
  • Neural Pathways
  • Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans
 

Citation

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ICMJE
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Gorka, A. X., Knodt, A. R., & Hariri, A. R. (2015). Basal forebrain moderates the magnitude of task-dependent amygdala functional connectivity. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(4), 501–507. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu080
Gorka, Adam X., Annchen R. Knodt, and Ahmad R. Hariri. “Basal forebrain moderates the magnitude of task-dependent amygdala functional connectivity.Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10, no. 4 (April 2015): 501–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu080.
Gorka AX, Knodt AR, Hariri AR. Basal forebrain moderates the magnitude of task-dependent amygdala functional connectivity. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 2015 Apr;10(4):501–7.
Gorka, Adam X., et al. “Basal forebrain moderates the magnitude of task-dependent amygdala functional connectivity.Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 10, no. 4, Apr. 2015, pp. 501–07. Epmc, doi:10.1093/scan/nsu080.
Gorka AX, Knodt AR, Hariri AR. Basal forebrain moderates the magnitude of task-dependent amygdala functional connectivity. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 2015 Apr;10(4):501–507.
Journal cover image

Published In

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1749-5024

ISSN

1749-5016

Publication Date

April 2015

Volume

10

Issue

4

Start / End Page

501 / 507

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Parasympathetic Nervous System
  • Oxygen
  • Neuroimaging
  • Neural Pathways
  • Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans